Pickup Movie: The Tao of Steve

I've decided to start reviewing some of the great films of pickup and analyzing their strategies. I've seen many of these before but never as an RAFC. This review is based upon a modern enjoyable, The Tao of Steve, featuring Donal Logue.

The basic strategies of pickup listed in the Tao are as follows:

1. Remove your Desire
2. Be Excellent in Her Presence
3. Retreat ("We pursue that which retreats from us")
   

You are supposed to first hang out with a girl without thinking about getting laid. This is actually pretty easy to do, but it's not fully understandable in the movie. You can't just completely remove desire to get laid because if you really don't want to get laid, you won't be playful with anyone or seek company. This rule does map to one of the rules of ASF, which is to not supplicate your target. If you buy a girl drinks, take her to a super expensive restaurant, or give her a big massage early on in the game, you're supplicating her: you're trying to win her over by getting her things. This has an opposite effect of her psychologically wanting you less.

Being excellent in her presence is equivalent to the principle of demonstrating high value, but not by bragging (as outlined by numerous pickup artists from Mystery to David DeAngelo). Bragging has the opposite effect of not impressing her, but demonstrating high value indirectly works wonders. For instance, you can tell stories of your adventures around the world and things you did in the story. This is better than simply saying "I'm an awesome person" because you can inject all sorts of sensory-enhanced words that get her juices going (think Ross Jeffries). Mystery and Style demonstrate high value by performing tricks on the fly in front of women. At the same time, the movie mentions you can't be excellent at everything in front of a girl, like camping or computer programming. You can't be talking with a girl and whip out a laptop to show her how good your computer jockey skills are.

Retreating is a related to the cat string theory. You give a girl a taste of what you have, but you fall back once she gets a little bit. If she's interested in you, and you retreat, she will want to pursue you until she gets you or gets bored. Dex makes a good point by saying that if you're an affectionate little puppy, you'll bore the girl and with girls, boredom equals death. This has been verified by hundreds of thousands of pickups across time.

The film is a decent story of pickup, and the movie doesn't pretend to proclaim much else. It was the first story of pickup I saw (way back as an AFC in 2000), and I bought the DVD immediately thereafter.

The story does relate one fundamental rule of the pickup game that has been repeated again and again by countless PUAs:

The Tao of Steve isn't about picking up lots of women. It's about being the best person you can be.

This has been retold time and time again: the goal of pickup isn't just about sleeping with women; it's about bringing out what's best about you and being proud of who you are. It's about feeling accepted by others and loving yourself. This is the real goal, and that is what I aim for. It is this which drives me and not my libido. This is why I truly believe pickup is necessary for success in my life.